Veteran designer: Vaziri-moqaddam is an international artist
By Hassan Homayoun
An expo of artworks by Mohsen Vaziri-moqaddam, Iranian designer, painter, sculptor, art maestro and professor of Iranian contemporary art, is currently underway at Etemad Gallery. A creative artist, Vaziri-moqaddam was born in 1924. He is a graduate of Tehran University of Art and was the dean of the university during 1966-76.
He has been described as the ‘pioneer of modern Iranian abstraction’. Between 1959 and 1960, he developed a vision of abstract art through experiments that were highly focused on materials. This eventually led to the creation of some of his most powerful works: ‘The Sand Composition Series’. These paintings were conceived in a playful moment in the spring of 1959, and for the next three years, Vaziri kept trying his hand at them, until 1963 when they were put on public display. Different types of sand were applied to the canvas in their natural state or mixed with color. This original concept grabbed the attention of some of the most prominent Italian art critics of the time, including Giulio Carlo Argan and Palma Bucarelli.
In 1964, Vaziri was at the peak of his artistic career, marked by the purchase of one of his paintings by the Modern Art Museum (MOMA) in New York.
A veteran Iranian graphic designer, Qobad Shiva was among Vaziri-moqaddam’s students in the 60s. Commenting on his maestro, he told Iran Daily that Vazirimoqaddam is an international figure.
He added, “He is known worldwide as an Iranian artist. During his lifetime, he has undertaken massive efforts and experienced many sufferings and difficulties to, through his works of art which have a modern artistic expression, present Iranian culture to the world. At the age of 94, despite his senility, he, as a modern Iranian artist, is still continuing his purposeful attempts with an unbelievable